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Garmin GPSMAP 66 series announced on 2018-08-06


Mineral2

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I guess my main issue with the weather is that you need an internet connection, which means if you're out and about, you're tethered to your phone, either through setting up a wifi hotspot with your phone or through bluetooth. In that case, what's the advantage of pulling up the weather on your GPS over pulling up a weather app on your phone that shows you the same data on a map? To me, until the weather can be delivered over its own satellite signal without the need to be in 4G or Wifi range, it's just a gimmick.

I understand why Garmin is now including WiFi connectability - they're competing with smartphones. But honestly, the unconnected nature of a GPS was one of its strengths. Until the release of the Oregon 700, and now the 66 series, GPS was one of the last electronic devices that couldn't be hacked and comondered from the outside.



 

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I agree entirely, except that the GPS is featured in a way with alerts so that your phone could stay in your backpack unless you actually have to make a call.

But in the end, I wouldn’t care at all if all connected features were simply deleted tomorrow in exchange for a more reliable update regarding the real function of a mapping GPS :D

 

I’m trying to at least give them props for something. It’s hot here now, so there’s no clouds, or anything to show on the radar,

but they are nice computer generated clouds for cloud cover, and it’s good that you don’t have to tell it where you are.

When it’s fixed not to break something else, I’d have to admit it’s a nice job, even if just from a demo point of view.

 

Edited by _Art_
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On 12/17/2018 at 9:15 PM, Mineral2 said:

Nah, get a 4 or 8 pack of Eneloop rechargeables. That's essentially what the Garmin battery pack is, and it's the most economical solution. Or hell, get 24 batteries and start using them in all of your electronic devices that take AA (and AAA) cells. I use them in my headlamps, flashlights, and mini lanterns, my tv remotes, camera flash, kid's toys. 

If you need a battery charger, this one is actually pretty decent without getting into the more expensive conditioner-chargers. 
https://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-K-KJ17MCA4BA-Individual-eneloop-Rechargeable/dp/B01G3SS04A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1545109761&sr=8-3&keywords=eneloop%2Bwith%2Bcharger&th=1

 

I decided to go ahead and get an Eneloop charger and some batteries.  Although I feel I am getting good battery life so far, I do get annoyed by the message that keeps popping up about the backlight not working properly because the batteries are low.  This is when the battery indicator drops only one bar.  The unit continues to work fine, including the backlight, but the message keeps popping up.  I did ask a Garmin rep about it during a chat session yesterday mainly why the message when the battery status is still 3 out of 4 bars?  He just said that I should ditch the alkaline batteries and it probably won't happen.  Maybe, but seems odd to get that message if the unit thinks the batteries are still 3/4 full!   We will see what happens with the Eneloops.

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One feature the 66 has that I really like is the Auto Pause when recording a track.  I compared the 60CSx and the 66st tracks today and it really nice to have the pause feature on the 66.  I did notice it starting up again once at least before I really was heading off again down the trail.  I was talking to some folks and our dogs were playing a bit so I was moving some but not on my way.  I then set the auto start to off to prevent that.  BUT I don't think I will leave the auto start off, because I know I will often forget to manually start recording again when I do start walking.

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7 minutes ago, Mineral2 said:

You'll get better battery life with the eneloops anyway. But check that the battery mode is set to alkaline. Otherwise it may be reading the voltage based on the wrong cell and the bars won't be accurate.

 

I do have it set it to alkaline so that is why I was asking the Garmin rep about it.  Seems like a bug if it is set to alkaline and the battery indicator is showing 3 of 4 bars and that message is still popping up.  I thought maybe the power level trigger for showing the message was not changing when switching the battery mode to alkaline or something.  But the rep just said to wait and see if it still happens with better batteries.

Edited by Cheminer Will
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On 12/1/2018 at 8:17 PM, _Art_ said:

 

 

None of you will see my posts for another three weeks. I’m probably wasting my time but anyway...

It still just crashes all the time in a manner that turns itself off, or requires you to pull the batteries out to reset it or it stays frozen on a screen.

Last night was the first time I took it in a car just to see a moving map. I had Dad driving for 20 minutes so I could play with it,

and didn’t see a map at all until we were home again. It froze at the “Loading Profiles” screen three times, and each time I had to pull the batteries out.

If it freezes while it’s making a beep sound, then that sound is continuous until you take the batteries out. Most annoying.

 

 

 

This part of _Art_'s post had me thinking.  When I experienced the screen freezing (at least twice), it was while I was a passenger in a moving car.  While I don't normally use my handheld for highway navigating, I do zoom in and out of the map, back and forth between different screens (cache descriptions, POIs), planning stops for further down the road.  I'm now wondering if the GPSMap 66 is somehow struggling when under more rapid fire conditions than when on foot.  Opinions? 

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7 hours ago, lucia152 said:

This part of _Art_'s post had me thinking.  When I experienced the screen freezing (at least twice), it was while I was a passenger in a moving car.  While I don't normally use my handheld for highway navigating, I do zoom in and out of the map, back and forth between different screens (cache descriptions, POIs), planning stops for further down the road.  I'm now wondering if the GPSMap 66 is somehow struggling when under more rapid fire conditions than when on foot.  Opinions? 

 

The easiest way I can get it to turn itself off without entering a known sequence of buttons that will do so, is to zoom out far and make it draw a big detailed map screen.

If it can manage that, then moving around the map at that level with the pointer will surely crash it before long.

Then when it’s turned back on, it’s going to try to draw the same map display as before, and simply turn straight back off again.

 

What I think was happening is I took it in the car after one of these shutdowns. It would have to either get a position fix, or at least be trying to rotate to a different bearing

before trying to draw it’s first map screen so that it was doing something different.

I have little doubt that if I’d turned it on and got it displaying a map first (at a closer level) it would have been fine.

 

 

 

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I just received my new Garmin GPSMap 66S before Christmas, anyone has the following issues?

 

I found that my device performed Factory Reset unexpectedly. I experienced this behavior 3 times and every time the system would jump into the "Language selection" screen (the screen that you switch on the device first time). After I choose "English" and enter the system main screen, all my previous setting is gone!

 

Following are what happend before the system perform Factory Reset:

- I had my wi-fi and bluetooth turned on when I had 3 bars on my devices. Since I was using Alkaline battery and the device was keep warning me "Low Battery" warning. Then I turned off the devices and restart. During the restart, the system was crashed. I needed to take out the battery and replaced a new one. This time the boot was success but the device was reset.

- The device battery level was dropped to "Red Bar" and I switched off the device. The next day I switch on the device again with the old battery, the system was freeze on the loading screen and again, the system was reset.

- I plugged the USB cable into the device when it was on. It jumped into USB connection mode. After the file sync successfully, I disconnected my device safely and I unplugged the cable. Again, the system was reset.

 

Anyone had any of this symptom? Is it firmware issue, hardware issue or Battery issue (Alkaline)? 

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1 hour ago, Atlas Cached said:

There is an issue with the reset occurring when it is not supposed to, should be  addressed in upcoming firmware update.

 

Thanks for your information. I did not have time to read through all message from the forum. Any reference link that other people got this issue? 

Shall I report to Garmin about my behavior? 

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4 hours ago, Vistalia said:

 

Thanks for your information. I did not have time to read through all message from the forum. Any reference link that other people got this issue? 

Shall I report to Garmin about my behavior? 

 

I am on many forums, do not remember where exactly I read about this one.

 

You may want to report your GPSr behavior to Garmin, I doubt they care about your behavior, however...?

 

See the Common Issues page here for Error Reporting information if you need it.

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Thanks for your link. I read through your forum and one guy also got this issue when he new purchased the device. However he just returned it to the shop. 

Anyway I would like to contact Garmin but their live chart seems not so responsive.

 

I have one more question about the birdseye subscription. As per Garmin said GPSMap 66 has life time subscription to access the Birdseye image on server. I can successful download image through device to wifi connectivity. I also able to download via Basecamp. When I download from Basecamp Birdseye section, I see that my subscription is valid for 1 year time counting form the day I first download the image. Is this validity true? Can I still download from Basecamp 1 year after? Or I can only use the device to wifi connectivity to download?

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25 minutes ago, Vistalia said:

Thanks for your link. I read through your forum and one guy also got this issue when he new purchased the device. However he just returned it to the shop. 

Anyway I would like to contact Garmin but their live chart seems not so responsive.

 

I have one more question about the birdseye subscription. As per Garmin said GPSMap 66 has life time subscription to access the Birdseye image on server. I can successful download image through device to wifi connectivity. I also able to download via Basecamp. When I download from Basecamp Birdseye section, I see that my subscription is valid for 1 year time counting form the day I first download the image. Is this validity true? Can I still download from Basecamp 1 year after? Or I can only use the device to wifi connectivity to download?

 

Live Chat is (almost) worthless. Email Garmin as directed in the Common Issues page under Error Reporting.

 

I had not tested the BaseCamp BirdsEye function with my 66 yet, but will look into this... Thanks for the heads up!

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On 1/2/2019 at 12:45 AM, Vistalia said:

Since I was using Alkaline battery and the device was keep warning me "Low Battery" warning.

FWIW:  I was getting this popup all the time when my alkaline batteries were still at least 3/4 full.  I took the advice on this forum and bought this Eneloop battery package and have been very happy with them so far.  Have not had the annoying popup message since using them.  Will have to see what happens as they start to run down though.  Can't tell yet as even though I have had the Eneloops in the 66 for about a week now with pretty decent usage time, the battery indicator is still full.  I got some additional AAA batteries and have been using them in a LED flashlight and this has greatly increased the time before the bulb in that starts to lose brightness.  I had not considered changing to rechargeables because of my experience with them from many years ago.  But the technology has obviously gotten a lot better and I won't be going back to the Alkaline.

Edited by robertlipe
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I still use regular Eneloops because of their slower discharge rate and greater number of charge cycles. They work just fine. I get a full day out of each pair and only occasionally have to swap them mid-outing. But because they are half the cost of the pros, I can afford to stockpile them and bring extras along.

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8 minutes ago, Mineral2 said:

I still use regular Eneloops because of their slower discharge rate and greater number of charge cycles. They work just fine. I get a full day out of each pair and only occasionally have to swap them mid-outing. But because they are half the cost of the pros, I can afford to stockpile them and bring extras along.

I have some of those also (from before the PRO were available) . 

 

IIRC, they can be recharged 1000x compared to the PRO 500x, essentially twice the lifespan.

 

If you have to recharge your GPSr batteries once every three days, the PRO will still last almost 5 years, which was more than a reasonable trade-off for me. I'm confident there will be an even better option I will be adopting before those 5 years have elapsed...

 

:D

Edited by Atlas Cached
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On ‎12‎/‎20‎/‎2018 at 5:12 AM, Mineral2 said:

You'll get better battery life with the eneloops anyway. But check that the battery mode is set to alkaline. Otherwise it may be reading the voltage based on the wrong cell and the bars won't be accurate.

 

This quote has me confused. 

I thought ENELOOP batteries are NiMH.  Should not the battery type in SETUP>system> Battery    ,,   be set to this or Pre-charged if using a  pre-charged cassette.?

 

I have had issues with  the Batt meters on other " 6* " series in the past .  Never been really accurate and regularly under state charge level quite quickly.. Garmin have never sorted this.

 

Or

 

Is the tweak  " Use Alkaline " when using any NiMh ..  The  Answer?

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36 minutes ago, mikeD said:
On 12/19/2018 at 9:12 PM, Mineral2 said:

You'll get better battery life with the eneloops anyway. But check that the battery mode is set to alkaline. Otherwise it may be reading the voltage based on the wrong cell and the bars won't be accurate.

 

This quote has me confused. 

I thought ENELOOP batteries are NiMH.  Should not the battery type in SETUP>system> Battery    ,,   be set to this or Pre-charged if using a  pre-charged cassette.?

 

He was answering a specific question I asked saying I would be happier with the Eneloops, (he was correct), but that as long as I was using alkaline, make sure I had the battery mode set to alkaline.  I changed it to NIMH when I got the Eneloops.

Edited by Cheminer Will
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Quote

AA battery type: Set the type of battery used (Alkaline / Lithium / NiMH battery / Precharged NiMH); Select "precharged NiMH" on low self-discharge (LSD) batteries (such as eneloop).

When using a Garmin battery pack these settings are not even been shown in the settings dialog.

That said: "Precharged is correct for Eneloops.

 

Hans

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14 minutes ago, HHL said:

That said: "Precharged is correct for Eneloops.

 

Thanks for clarifying.  That is what I set mine on figuring that the "NiMH" was just for non rechargeable NiMH, if there is even such a thing or maybe for battery packs you charge in the unit? But I can see it being a little confusing.  For me the Pro Eneloops and the 66 set to Precharge has given fantastic life.  In addition to the time noted in my post above, the 66 has been powered on and inside on the first floor of our house all morning and still shows a full battery indicator.

Edited by Cheminer Will
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Pre-charged Panasonic Eneloop NiMh AA cells are not necessarily fully charged, as Solar Energy may be rationed at the factory. Fully charged NiMH may have a useful range of 1.35 down to 0.9 volts, but may be limited by device hardware (and thus software) to a somewhat higher low cutoff voltage to protect the circuitry.

 

Lithium Primary AA cells may have a useful range of 1.7v down to less than 1.4v, but go sort of wonky below 1.4v. So do not try to stretch the Lithium setting by changing to Alkaline or NiMH settings. (Unless lost in the woods after dark).

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6 hours ago, Vistalia said:

After reading a lot in this group, I would like to buy one set of Eneloops to try. 

One stupid question, if I put in a Eneloops to the GPSMap 66, can I just charge it buy plug in the USB cable to back of GPS unit?

 

Yes, but you need to fabricate something to press the button down inside the battery compartment.

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7 hours ago, Vistalia said:

After reading a lot in this group, I would like to buy one set of Eneloops to try. 

One stupid question, if I put in a Eneloops to the GPSMap 66, can I just charge it buy plug in the USB cable to back of GPS unit?

 

 

 

10 minutes ago, Red90 said:

 

Yes, but you need to fabricate something to press the button down inside the battery compartment.

 

Most are using a small square of thin firm plastic cut from the blister pack their uSD card came in....

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On 1/2/2019 at 11:09 PM, Vistalia said:

Thanks for your link. I read through your forum and one guy also got this issue when he new purchased the device. However he just returned it to the shop. 

Anyway I would like to contact Garmin but their live chart seems not so responsive.

 

I have one more question about the birdseye subscription. As per Garmin said GPSMap 66 has life time subscription to access the Birdseye image on server. I can successful download image through device to wifi connectivity. I also able to download via Basecamp. When I download from Basecamp Birdseye section, I see that my subscription is valid for 1 year time counting form the day I first download the image. Is this validity true? Can I still download from Basecamp 1 year after? Or I can only use the device to wifi connectivity to download?

 

After a week of testing, I found that the device "Factory Reset" is very likely to happen after I have connected the device to my PC in following approach: 

 

I tried to connect to my home computer with Base Camp installed. It has no problem if I activated and it showed the message "The Garmin is in Sync" with my PC.

I tried to connect to my office computer without Base Camp installed, for two times, it performed "Factory Reset" after I disconnected from my office computer. I did not hot plug/unplug the device and I used the most formal way to disconnect the device from my Windows 10. 

 

I sent email to Garmin Support and I have received not response for more than 5 business day. It is a very disappointed experience for this poor customer care as well as the poor device quality when comparing to the old model. 

I just sent another message via FB messenger and let see what will be happened.

 

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I’ve loaded more than 32GB of Birdseye imagery from Basecamp to the 66, and even when the imagery is already downloaded,

it still takes a very long time to copy to the device. I never had any issue like that.

I always plug the device in before turning it on. Not saying that makes any difference, but it is what I’ve done.

 

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On 1/8/2019 at 12:32 PM, Vistalia said:

 

After a week of testing, I found that the device "Factory Reset" is very likely to happen after I have connected the device to my PC in following approach: 

 

I tried to connect to my home computer with Base Camp installed. It has no problem if I activated and it showed the message "The Garmin is in Sync" with my PC.

I tried to connect to my office computer without Base Camp installed, for two times, it performed "Factory Reset" after I disconnected from my office computer. I did not hot plug/unplug the device and I used the most formal way to disconnect the device from my Windows 10. 

 

I sent email to Garmin Support and I have received not response for more than 5 business day. It is a very disappointed experience for this poor customer care as well as the poor device quality when comparing to the old model. 

I just sent another message via FB messenger and let see what will be happened.

 

 

Finally I got Garmin Email reply. For supporting my case, they told me to call their support line as it is not practical in my case. What I need is to have my GPS device with a high speed computer with internet. 

So does anyone know how does Garmin troubleshoot for the device?

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14 hours ago, Vistalia said:

 

Finally I got Garmin Email reply. For supporting my case, they told me to call their support line as it is not practical in my case. What I need is to have my GPS device with a high speed computer with internet. 

So does anyone know how does Garmin troubleshoot for the device?

 

See highlighted quote for answer.....

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I had trouble with support as well for my 64st. Basecamp couldn’t unlock or send the map product to the GPSr.

It isn’t possible for me to call them, and also have a PC or even the GPSr at the same time at work, since the support line is business hours only.

I ended up using piracy tools to unlock my own map, patch the device firmware, and basically go through all the motions of pirating a map that I paid for.

 

For the 66st, I purchased the SD card version of the map.

 

 

 

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On 11/1/2018 at 3:01 AM, Atlas Cached said:

 

 

...or....

 

He knows EXACTLY what he is doing.

 

The current firmware (v2.10) only allows for one data field or four data fields on the map page. There is no two data field option at this time. This is a fact, not assumption.

I got my 66s an January 3rd, with firmware 2.3 installed. I was a bit confused as Garmin Express said that 2.1 is the most current firmware - I guess 2.3 is the next firmware to come, not yet published but installed on new units. Firmware 2.3 still only allows one data field or four data fields on the map page, no option for two fields. I guess it may never come.

1650.jpg

Edited by Henne1312
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On 11/1/2018 at 9:03 AM, HHL said:

Yes, and it might never happens to be changed as the size of the dashboard (which does show the data fields) is predefined by its size. The only solution is a quick toggle of showing the dashboard by hitting the small triangle button at the dashboard's bottom.

 

Hans

When you select the "Automotive" Dashboard, it is smaller than the other dashboards. The "Compass" Dashboard looks completely different than the other dashboards. So I guess they could implement the 2-data-field, if they wanted.

 

There's no small triangle button on the gpsmap's schreen, that's a touchscreen-only feature.

Edited by Henne1312
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1 hour ago, _Art_ said:

For me yes. I’m sure I’ve already talked about it in this thread.

 

 

This one

 

Ok, well open one of your archived tracks from the saved tracks in the menu, go sideways to view the elevation profile for the track,

then exit back out with the quit button twice, and see if the unit turns off.

Apparently it doesn’t happen for everyone, and it won’t happen if you entered the menu from any screen other than the map screen.

 

happens with my unit, too. Pushing the quit-button is OK until the main menu is shown, one more "quit" and the unit turns off.

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1 hour ago, fujitsu said:

Hello,

 

does anyone already tested the bluetooth connection with a smartphone?
I read somewhere that it does not work very well and it is difficult to connect

 

Many thanks

 

Yes.

 

The primary issue I have is that I always have to open Garmin Connect on my android phone before the GPSMAP 66 can make the 'connection' (stays in 'Connecting' mode until then), but once that is done it works fine, until the unit is powered off and on again, and the process must be repeated every time.

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I got the opportunity to chat with an authorised distributor from Hungary of all places, whom I met through an unrelated group.

He checked one of his 66s for me, and also found 2.30 device firmware.

 

It’s interesting that it’s installed on recent units, but WebUpdater still reports 2.10 as the current version if you try to update an early unit.

 

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I've been less than impressed with the feedback I have received from Garmin.  When I first ran into problems, the Garmin rep I had an on line chat with said that he would keep me posted on any other reports similar to mine and any updated info, etc.  Needless to say, never heard another word from him.  On January 14 I sent Garmin Support the following email:  "I purchased this unit when it was first released. I returned it because of MAJOR issues with it, including screen freeze requiring removal of batteries and the unit shutting off on it's own. I am hoping to repurchase when and if the bugs I experienced have been identified and resolved. Have there been any SIGNIFICANT updates since it's release?"  This was the LAME response I got in reply:  "Hello Lucia.  Thank you for contacting Garmin Outdoor Division.  I am sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience with your GPSMAP 66st.  In looking over your account, the issues you experienced are not the norm and extremely rare.  While Garmin cannot guarantee every device will be problem free, please know that all Garmin products have a 1 year warranty from the date of purchase as well as a 30 day money back.  Thank you for choosing Garmin."  :huh:

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lucia152, that is a typical cut/paste response. I never put much, if any faith in the reps on the phone, as they usually can not even agree with each other, and frequently do not help. I assume they do help many other people who are making simple silly mistake operating their Garmin units, however.

 

I expect to see the first significant update for the GPSMAP 66 series any minute now....

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@Atlas Cached I got email notification of a private message from you, and the email included the actual message, but nothing here?

When I check one the forum, I’ve never received a pm yet since joining.

 

Anyways, I’ve heard that before. Did Garmin say so? 

 

For 64st Whiz, I have the device for testing, but I don’t think I’ll ever have an Oregon.

Although you can use photographic or cartoonish images, I wanted mainly to flatten the 64’s otherwise dithered textures, and just have plain flat colour backgrounds.

I wasn’t even motivated to write it again for 66 because Garmin already did the GUI this way this time :D 

 

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I do have the envelope and pm area, but no new messages, and no messages at all. If it weren’t for the email I wouldn’t know I got a message.

 

Yes I wasn’t going to mention that. It was about ten years ago, I expected it to work at the time, and they may well, but I never tested with a device.

I did test and use 60CSx Whiz.

With more experience, I wouldn’t send anything like that out into the world these days (Oregon/Colorado Whiz) without testing it on a device myself.

60CSx Whiz works great, but any online version could be infected with a 90’s trojan called “Virtob”. To use it, you’d have to have a virtual machine to burn.

I lost source and exe for this, and helped spread a bad version no doubt, by downloading it, and further uploading it myself.

 

With 64st Whiz I was a lot more careful. I still have no virus checker, but a clean computer just for the IDE, and was careful to make videos showing and describing it.

I’ve got a stack of HDD caddies for this, with IDE installations that simply aren’t allowed on any network, except Microsoft for Windows Update, and Visual Studio.

 

 

 

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